AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph
Former St Ann’s school principal who hired paedophile Brian Perkins ‘made mistake’ over police check
SALLY BROOKS AT THE INQUIRY THE ADVERTISER MARCH 21, 2014
A FORMER school principal who employed paedophile bus driver Brian Perkins at St Ann’s Special School more than two decades ago has denied he lied about doing a police check on Perkins, but instead says he made a mistake.
Claude Hamam has told an inquiry into the handling of sexual abuse claims at the school that he deeply regrets stating that he did do a police check, at his first interview with the Catholic Education Office in 2001.
“I made a mistake. It was an error of judgment on my part. I did not in any way fabricate the truth,” he said.
“I admitted at a subsequent interview with Catholic Education that I had not done a police check and I was accused of lying.
“This left me shocked and devastated, as I had not intentionally lied but made a mistake.”
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